After a car accident
Do you need an X-ray after a car accident?
If you do, it is taken here. X-rays are done in the office at your appointment — not ordered, not scheduled somewhere else for next week.
An X-ray answers one question well: whether a bone is broken or out of position. That is worth settling early, and for a good number of people it is settled the same day they are seen.
Whether you need one is what the examination decides. This page explains what an X-ray shows, what it cannot show, and what happens if the answer turns out to be something an X-ray was never going to find.
A free consultation with Dr. Jimenez, within 24 hours. No referral needed, and the X-ray — if you need one — happens at the visit.
First — these need emergency care, not an appointment
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room if you have:
- New or worsening weakness in an arm or leg
- Numbness that is spreading
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- New difficulty walking or keeping your balance
- Severe or worsening headache, confusion, or repeated vomiting
- Chest pain, difficulty breathing, or severe abdominal pain
What an X-ray shows, and what it doesn’t
Knowing the boundary is most of what makes the result useful to you.
Bone, clearly. Fractures, dislocations, and how the vertebrae are lined up. This is what an X-ray is for, and it is good at it. A clear film makes a significant fracture unlikely.
Soft tissue, barely at all. Ligaments, muscles, tendons, discs and nerves scarcely register. A torn ligament in the neck and an intact one look much the same on an X-ray.
Which is why a clear X-ray is not the end of it. It rules out one category of problem. If your symptoms point somewhere else — pain running down an arm or a leg, numbness, weakness — the next question is a different study, and a different conversation.
X-rays are taken in the office
This is worth saying plainly because it is unusual. For most accident care, imaging means a referral, a second appointment at a second address, and then a wait to hear what it showed.
Here, if the examination calls for an X-ray, it is taken during the visit and Dr. Jimenez looks at it himself. You leave knowing whether something is broken, and knowing what the plan is either way.
An MRI works differently — it is done at an imaging centre, and Dr. Jimenez orders it after he has examined you.
If the emergency room already X-rayed you
Bring the report if you have it, and the images if you were given a disc or a link. If you don’t have them it isn’t a problem — we can work from what you tell us and request the records afterwards.
A clear X-ray from the emergency room is genuinely good news about fractures. It is also the most common reason people talk themselves out of being seen when something is still wrong, because “nothing showed up” gets heard as “nothing is wrong”. Those are not the same sentence.
Who pays for an X-ray after a car accident?
For car accident care we don’t bill regular health insurance. An X-ray goes through whichever of the two paths fits you — self-pay, or a lien if you qualify, where the cost is settled later out of a settlement rather than out of pocket while your case is open.
It isn’t billed separately from the rest of your treatment, and it isn’t something to arrange before you get in touch.
How to find out whether you need one
First, a phone call. Free, no referral, no appointment, within 24 hours. Tell us what happened and what you are feeling, and you talk it through with the surgeon, Dr. Jimenez .
Then, an appointment. The examination decides what imaging is worth doing. If that is an X-ray, it happens there and then.
What the 24 hours covers.
A response within 24 hours, and a phone conversation with Dr. Jimenez in that same window if you want one. An in-person appointment often follows quickly, but that depends on scheduling and we won’t name a specific day before we’ve spoken.
A free consultation with Dr. Jimenez, within 24 hours — five to ten minutes on the phone, and longer if it needs to be.
Questions people ask
Do I need an X-ray after a car accident?
The ER already did an X-ray and said it was fine. Do I need another?
Can you do the X-ray at my visit?
Who pays for an X-ray after a car accident?
How soon after the accident should it be done?
Do I need a referral?
Start with the examination
An X-ray answers one question. Working out whether it is your question takes a few minutes with someone who treats spine injuries, and that can start within 24 hours.
A free consultation with Dr. Jimenez, within 24 hours — five to ten minutes on the phone, and longer if it needs to be.
Car accident injuriesBack and neck pain after a car accidentSymptoms worth having examined